


Continuous as the Stars That Shine

by MinaSark



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Dad!Poe, F/M, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Kid BB-8 (Star Wars), Kylo Ren as Hades, Modern AU, Poe as a Mortal Who Accidentally Gets Caught Up in It All (Or Is It Fate?), Rey as Persephone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:48:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22246600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinaSark/pseuds/MinaSark
Summary: Rey is used to being alone. In fact, she's had centuries of practice.So she's quite shocked to come home one spring equinox to find that she has a new neighbor that has the kind of smile that could make one wish for the impossible.Even if it turns her galaxy—really her entire existence—on its head, she can’t help but smile back.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey
Comments: 9
Kudos: 44





	1. Rey in 1B

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea I have been kicking around in my head for awhile and I finally decided to put it down on paper! 
> 
> A few disclaimers:  
> -While I do enjoy Hades/Persephone romantic re-tellings, this is not one of them. This is follows the interpretation of the myth that Persephone's marriage to Hades was decidedly not her idea.  
> -It then follows that Kylo Ren as Hades in this is not going to be all that nice when we meet him. Brooding? Yes. Moody? Yes. Nice? Not so much.  
> -If either of these things are not your cup of tea, no worries! Just know that this is Damerey endgame and not a Hades/Persephone fic.
> 
> Title from the poem ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’

Rey had been walking through her brownstone’s shared patio space early that March morning when she saw them.

The ornate planters that had been secured underneath the windows of the converted basement unit next to hers hadn’t been there when she had left, and she couldn’t help but be on high alert just in case this was a trap. Which in her defense, the first time she had ever seen a daffodil, it was. The annoyingly beautiful yellow flowers had gone by another name then.

But then again, so had she.

Rey hesitated before taking six cautious steps towards the planters, trying to figure out where exactly they had come from. Rationally, she knew that she must have a new neighbor. She hadn’t been back to her apartment since the winter solstice, so it was very possible that in the three months since, the previous tenant of the unit next to hers had moved out. She couldn’t help but feel a little sad at the thought—Ms. Jacobson had been an ideal neighbor.

The elderly woman had been quiet and kept to herself in the eight years Rey had lived there, never involving herself in Rey’s business other than a friendly greeting if their paths ever crossed. She was getting older—in her early eighties—and Rey supposed that if in her limited interactions, she’d noticed Ms. Jacobson’s behavior becoming more and more troubling, someone closer to the older woman must have come to the conclusion that she was no longer able to live on her own.

After all, Ms. Jacobson couldn’t be dead. Rey would have known if she was.

Snapping her attention back to the present, Rey couldn’t help but hold the daffodils in the highest suspicion as she drew closer.

It was a little on the early side for them to be in full bloom like this—they usually didn’t blossom until several weeks after the spring equinox. They also looked impeccably well taken care of—the bulbs had been perfectly spaced with nary a weed in sight. Most of the flowerbeds on her block were merely just for show—as long as the flowers looked pretty, they didn’t get any further attention past watering. The florae in front of her were suspicious in their beauty. They were almost _too_ perfect.

But Kylo never followed her to the mortal realm, Rey reminded herself. It was part of their Agreement.

Of the places Rey had called home in the past few centuries, this basement apartment in a charming Manhattan brownstone had quickly become one of her favorites. She figured she had five or seven more years left of living there before her landlord started asking questions—namely, why she still looked like she was in her early twenties when she would have lived there for roughly fifteen years. She hated the thought of having to leave sooner than anticipated because Kylo had gone back on his word and tracked her there.

Rey crept closer, bending down to get a better look at the flowers to see if they were, indeed, a threat. After all, she hadn’t seen daffodils this radiant since…

“Can I help you?” 

Rey jumped nearly a foot back at the sudden voice, unable to hide her panic as she spun on her heels to see who had snuck up behind her, half expecting to see Him.

Instead of seeing the man who was many things to her—captor, companion, co-regent, consort—she saw a stranger. A mortal who was looking at her at her with a _very_ concerned expression.

Knowing all too well how much the Fates enjoyed interfering in her life, Rey could only assume that the shocked man who stood before her was her new neighbor.

And she had just made _quite_ the first impression.

“Sorry!” She blurted, searching for something to say that would salvage the situation, but before she could come up with anything, the stranger spoke.

“I’m the one who should be sorry.” The man said, holding up his hands in apology, “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s quite alright.” She replied, still unsure of what to say, “I’m the one who was trespassing on your rather lovely planters.” She paused, “It’s just…been awhile since I have seen daffodils as vibrant as these. A long while, actually. You must have taken excellent care of them for them to have blossomed so early.”

She was rambling—she could practically feel the words from tumbling out of her mouth— and much to her horror, couldn’t seem to stop them.

“Anyway…it was a lovely sight upon returning home after spending the winter away, so I thought I would just come over to get a better look.” Rey continued, nearly wishing that the ground would open up beneath her as it had the first time she had even seen those stupid yellow flowers if only to stop her babbling. _Why_ couldn’t she stop talking?

“Ah!” The man said, his face lighting up in recognition, “You’re Rey in 1B. I’m Poe…2B.”

He—Poe—held out his hand in greeting and Rey immediately took it, “I’m Rey.”

She closed her eyes, wincing as she realized he’d already said her name.

“I know.”

After a few mortifying seconds of silence, Rey was finally able to meet Poe’s gaze only find that he was grinning at her—not unkindly, but with a warmth and gentle amusement that, oddly enough, put her at ease.

He had clearly been coming back from a morning run, his t-shirt slightly damp from exertion and clinging to his torso in a way that left _very_ little doubt in her mind about the state of his physique. He appeared to be in his early thirties, perhaps only a few years older than the age she was pretending to be. His hair was full of obsidian curls that were wild from his run, and his eyes seemed to dance with laughter—their color as dark as they were inviting.

But what really made Rey catch her breath, however, was his smile. It lit up every single one of his features in a way that made it appear as though he was genuinely pleased to be standing there with her at that ungodly hour—just a little after sunrise—even with her incessant prattle.

“I was wondering when you’d return.” Poe continued, nodding over to her door.

“Oh?” Rey asked, tilting her head in amused curiosity.

“Lando said that you’re a snowbird.” 

“A…snowbird?” Rey asked, unfamiliar with the term. Had he really been talking about her with their landlord?

“Someone who travels south for the winter.” Poe explained, “Somewhere warmer until you return in the spring.”

Rey frowned, her nose wrinkling as she considered the new information, “I suppose I am. I’ve never heard that phrase before.”

She paused before looking up at him, grinning, “I quite like it.”

"I’m glad,” Poe chuckled, his eyes—those impossibly dark eyes—crinkling in a way that caused a fluttering sensation in her stomach, “I would have hated to have startled _and_ offended you during our first interaction.”

“That would have been poor manners indeed.” Rey teased before she realized what she was doing. In a matter of minutes she had gone from startled to awkward to…flirtatious?

She did a quick check of her surroundings to make sure that her cousin wasn’t around with his pesky bow and arrow. The Fates wouldn’t be _that_ unkind, would they?

Noticing that her attention had strayed, Poe glanced around trying to follow her gaze and Rey felt her cheeks flush. ‘ _Talk about poor manners_ ,’ she thought.

They stood there for a moment before Rey realized that she was standing between him and his front door.

“I suppose I should stop shoving my face in your flower beds and actually let you pass through to your apartment.” She stated apologetically, taking a quick step to the side.

“I don’t mind the delay.” He replied, nodding over at her side of the patio, “I see you have planters of your own out here.”

Rey looked over at her collection of mismatched planters that she had winterized before she left that December. She frowned at the plastic sheeting that was starting to look more than a little worse for wear. They must have had a particularly harsh winter that year.

“It looks like I have my work cut out for me getting them back into anything resembling a garden.” She commented, turning back to face him.

“Let me know if you’d like any help.” Poe offered with a shy smile, shoving his hands into the pockets of his running shorts, “You may have noticed that I have quite the green thumb.”

Rey’s traitorous heart fluttered at his joke. She was beginning to think that the kindness of his smile was more dangerous to her than those damn yellow flowers ever were.

“I will.” she nodded, realizing that she was treading on very dangerous ground, “Thank you.”

“Well, I should probably let you get settled back in.” Poe nodded at the suitcase Rey had all but abandoned by her apartment door when she had cautiously approached his side of the patio, “Welcome home, snowbird.”

He gave her a small wave as he walked past her to his apartment door.

Rey headed back to her side of the patio, turning to give the daffodils one last look but ended up catching Poe’s gaze instead. With one final smile, he disappeared into his apartment, closing the door behind him. Their whole conversation had to have lasted all of five minutes, but as Rey unlocked her door, she couldn’t help but feel as though something about her already long existence had somehow fundamentally changed.

* * *

The rules of the Agreement were fairly straight forward.

  1. Every year, Rey would spend from sundown of the winter solstice to sunrise of the spring equinox in the underworld with Kylo. The remaining days of the year were for her to spend where ever and however she wished.
  2. Kylo would not initiate physical intimacy without Rey’s consent. Over the course of over two thousand years, she had yet to give it.
  3. So long as they were married, both Kylo and Rey would remain physically faithful to one another.



At first, those eighty-eight days had been akin to torture.

Rey spent centuries as the reluctant co-ruler of the underworld and the time passed slowly, her days filled with bitter resentment. In those early years, she could barely even look at Him let alone _think_ of Him as her husband. As time went on, she slowly began to get to know her captor, electing to pass the time in light conversation as opposed to stony silence, concluding that going through life consumed with anger was a tiresome way to spend eternity. So, she dealt with her changed circumstances as best as she could. She rose to the challenge of her role as a chthonian deity, throwing herself in her work to help pass the time.

Unlike her brethren, she preferred to stay out of the affairs of mortals, refusing to take sides during wars or international conflicts. Instead, she spent more time working alongside Him, dealing with the fallout of the seemingly endless wars that became more and more brutal as the centuries passed. After two thousand years, she had nearly begun to consider Him a friend.

With the noted exception of her mother, Rey kept her distance from her extended family. In addition to staying out of mortal affairs, she stayed far away from the squabbles that her aunts always seemed to find themselves in and made sure to keep from the wandering eyes of her uncles, not that any of them would have given her more than a second glance if they knew what was good for them. The only perk of being the bride of a death deity—as far as she could tell—was that everyone mostly left you alone.

In those early centuries, she mostly stayed close to her mother’s side during her time in the mortal realm, not straying far from Mt. Olympus after accidentally inspiring a cult when she had been recognized in Athens one year. But as time passed and power changed hands, the old ways became myth—all but forgotten in favor of the newer monotheistic religions which meant that she and her mother could travel freely without being recognized.

She spent her time as various reclusive heiresses or as the daughter of minor nobility—identities that allowed her and her mother to spend their time as they wished without anyone asking too many questions. As time progressed, Rey began to grow fonder of the increasingly modern world and started immersing herself in the new freedoms that women in the mortal realm had slowly begun to accumulate—freedoms she did not have three months out of the year.

She started striking out on her own, choosing to live separately from her mother for years, even decades, at a time. Her aliases began to include jobs, mostly in libraries or museums—places where she could be surrounded by people while still remaining relatively anonymous. By working mostly in linguistics and antiquities, she was able to grab ahold of her past in an ever-changing world. Every few decades she would move, her father helping to produce evidence of a new aliases to aid in her seamless transitions from society to society. Rey had been everything from a librarian to museum tour guide to linguist, but her current alias was by far her favorite.

She currently worked as a Research Scholar at the Institute for the Study of Classical Antiquity at Takodana University after first earning her Ph.D. there. It was the longest she had ever planned to stay in any of her aliases, the role of academic recluse fitting her like a glove and allowing her to stay in one place without suspicion for more time than usual. She couldn’t believe it had taken her this long to try attending formal education, initially thinking it too risky an endeavor. After all, as she understood it, school was where lifelong friendships were formed and she didn’t need her annual return to the underworld—not to mention her eventual disappearance—to be any harder than it already was.

She opted to try graduate work where it was easier to keep to herself, having her father forge her undergraduate transcripts to get her into the Masters program in the Classics Department at TU, eventually moving on to earn her doctorate. It was an extremely menial task for the King of the Gods, but having been partly responsible for this whole mess to begin with, Rey argued it was the least he could do. Besides, whatever it was he’d done had not only gotten her transcripts approved with no problems, she suspected that he was also involved with her sabbatical requests always being accepted every year—no questions asked.

In the days immediately following the return from her most recent ‘winter sabbatical,’ Rey found herself slipping back into her old routine—namely a leisurely breakfast at the little bistro table on her side of the shared patio as she read through several documents before she headed into her first day back at work. She’d spent the entire weekend getting caught up on her emails, making a ‘to do list’ on what all needed to get done when she went back into the office. In an effort to make the list more manageable, she decided to get a head start. She was the top translator at the Institute—for some of the more obscure ancient languages, their _only_ translator—and there was a lot of work that had piled up in her absence.

Rey took a large bite out of her toast as she examined an enlarged photograph of a relatively nondescript clay tablet, scribbling away in her notebook as she translated the tablet’s inscription. While she pretended to consult dictionaries and other texts from time to time when she was at work, in the privacy of her patio, she made short work of it.

“Good morning!”

Rey’s head snapped up at the sudden noise, but she relaxed as she watched Poe walk towards her, newspaper tucked under his arm and a bowl of cereal in one hand with a rather large thermos of coffee in the other.

“Looks like we have the same idea.” He grinned.

“Sorry for taking up so much space.” She apologized as she moved to consolidate her various folders and stacks of paper, “Mrs. Jacobson was never really one for waking up early.”

“No apologies necessary.” Poe replied as he approached the table, “This is technically on your side of the patio and I shouldn’t have assumed that I could keep on using it during these unseasonably warm spring mornings.”

“I suppose I can learn to share.” Rey conceded with a small smile, watching as he set his breakfast down before taking a seat in the chair opposite hers, “And besides, this spring is actually going to be pretty mild compared to last year—high temperatures averaging about fifty degrees—which is why the fact that your daffodils are in full bloom already is so baffling...”

She trailed off as she realized what she was saying but found that her new neighbor was grinning at her as though he found her discourse about weather charming and not the ramblings of a madwoman.

Rey wasn’t sure what it was that made her feel so wrong-footed around him. She’d managed interactions with mortals just fine for the better part of two-thousand years—thank you very much—but she _really_ needed to get it together around him.

“What have you got there?” Poe asked, pointing at the at the image in her hand with his spoon.

“A bit of translation work that I wanted to get done before head into the office.” she explained, “I’m a Research Associate over at the ISCA at TU. Sorry, the—”

“Institute for the Study of Classical Antiquity.” He finished, with an understanding nod.

“Yeah…” Rey blinked at him in surprise, “Sorry, I’m not used to people knowing what that is.”

Poe smiled, “I’m over in the Department of Art History. I’m an adjunct for the Historical and Sustainable Architecture program.”

Rey’s eyes widened in shock, this new revelation decidedly not helping in the ‘get it together’ department, “So you work with the preservation of historic sites?”

“I like to think of it more as the creative reuse of older buildings,” He shrugged, “but yes, preservation is a large part of it.”

Rey looked down at her plate, trying to sort out whether or not Poe in 2B was a trick much like the daffodils that still mocked her from his windowsill.

They ate in a comfortable silence for a few moments, Poe finishing his cereal and Rey diving back into her notes, her toast all but forgotten.

“So what are you translating?” Poe asked as he picked up his thermos.

“I’m waiting for the carbon dating to come back,” she replied as she jotted down a few final words in her notebook, “but if I’m right, this clay tablet here is the oldest written excerpt of the Odyssey.”

“May I?” he asked, his hand outstretched.

Rey gave him the copy of the image, watching him as he analyzed the image—not knowing what it said but recognizing its importance all the same. He seemed genuinely interested in her work—no one was _ever_ interested in her work—and she didn’t quite know what to do with that.

She quickly diverted her gaze back to her toast when he looked up, “Where did they find this?”

“Just outside of Olympia earlier this month.”

Poe set the document down with a sigh, “Greece is one place I have always wanted to go.”

“You should.” Rey encouraged, “It’s lovely, especially Olympia.”

“You’ve been?” he asked before offering her a sheepish look, “Of course you’ve probably been to Greece with your line of work.”

“I…was born in Greece, actually.” Rey explained, choosing her words carefully. While it wasn’t expressly forbidden for her to reveal who she was to a mortal—it had honestly never come up—she was fairly certain that it would be frowned upon by several members of the Pantheon, her husband included.

“My family is from northern Greece, but you’re right, I do go back from time to time for work.” she continued.

Poe cocked his head to the side as he considered her words, “Really? I wouldn’t have guessed you were from Greece.”

“My accent is a bit tricky, isn’t it?” she smiled softly, “I was born in Greece, spent my formative years there, but…I unexpectedly moved away with my mother. We eventually settled in England and…well…” She gestured to her mouth, “My family’s dynamic is…more complicated than I can explain over breakfast.”

“Fair enough.” Poe said with a decisive nod as he reached out for his newspaper, “Though for what it’s worth, I have yet to see a family that doesn’t have its complications.”

If there was one thing that Rey liked the best about Poe so far in her limited interactions with him was that he seemed to know how to navigate a conversation with her—his easily startled neighbor who was way too chatty about flowers and weather. He knew when to ask follow-up questions and when to let topics slide. When he did ask questions, they seemed to come from a genuine interest to know more about her—something she was _definitely_ not used to from mortals and immortals alike.

Poe moved to unfold his paper and Rey took that as her cue to finish up her translation. Of the hundreds of mornings on this patio and this one was by far the best. Talking with Poe was…nice. Something that felt so nice—so _normal_ —couldn’t be a trick.

Could it?

Before she could ruminate on this further, a small child burst onto the patio and ran past her—a blur of black curls and a massive red backpack.

"¡Papá!"

“¡Mijo!” Poe exclaimed as he caught the small boy who had practically jumped into his arms, nearly knocking him from his chair.

Rey watched the exchange with confusion before realizing that the small child looked strikingly similar to her new neighbor.

And had just called him father.

“Good morning, Poe.”

Rey looked over to find a petite brunette—clearly the boy’s mother—eyeing her with blatant suspicion. Rey didn’t think they were husband and wife since neither of them wore rings on their left hands, but then again, she never wore _her_ ring outside of the underworld. The lack of marital token could very well mean nothing.

“Hello, Jess.” Poe greeted as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

The woman—Jess—turned and gave Poe a stern look and Rey couldn’t help but feel as though an entire conversation she was not privy to was passing before her eyes.

“Jess, I would like for you to meet Rey, my _neighbor_.” Poe introduced, placing a slight emphasis on ‘neighbor’ in a way that confused her, “The one that Lando said was gone on sabbatical when you and Iolo helped me move in? She just returned over the weekend.”

Whatever he had said worked, because Poe’s words completely changed how Jess regarded her. The brunette’s expression instantly switching from one of apprehension to something much friendlier.

“We have a neighbor?” the little boy asked, pulling out of Poe’s embrace and looking at Rey with blatant curiosity, “She doesn’t look like a bird.”

Rey smiled at the boy, who—now that she was able to get a closer look—practically looked like a miniature version of Poe down to every single curl on his head. He must have taken Lando’s ‘snowbird’ moniker literally.

“Hello.” Rey waved, “Nice to meet you.”

“My apologies in advance.” Jess said with an amused sigh, “Bee just discovered ‘Baby Shark’ this past week and that’s all he wants to watch on YouTube now. I hope the walls aren’t too thin.”

Rey frowned looking from Jess to Poe, “What’s ‘Baby Shark?’”

The boy—Bee—was practically bouncing on his feet, “I’ll show you!”

He moved to pull Rey towards Poe’s apartment, but Poe stepped in.

“Sorry, Benito.” He said as he gathered his empty bowl and thermos, “It’s time for school. Go say goodbye to your mother while I put this away.”

Bee pouted.

“You can see if Rey wants to listen to ‘Baby Shark’ later.” Poe caught Rey’s eye and shook his head in warning before he headed inside his apartment to dispose of the remains of his breakfast.

Still not quite getting what was going on, Rey looked back at Jess who simply shrugged, “Like I said, my apologies in advance.”

Rey nodded, moving to pack up her work as Bee rushed over to his mother to say his goodbyes.

“It was nice to meet you.” Jess said, giving Rey a parting wave as Poe walked back over to the group, a leather messenger bag slung over his shoulder, refilled coffee thermos in hand.

“Alight, Bee. Let’s get you to school. Say good-bye to Rey.”

Bee turned and rushed up to Rey, giving her an enthusiastic hug, “¡Adios Rey! Fue un placer conocerte.”

Rey froze at the sudden contact.

No one had hugged her in over a century.

Slowly, she wrapped her arms around the small boy as she looked over at Poe who gave her another apologetic smile. 

“I’m not sure she speaks Spanish, buddy.” He said as Bee stepped away from Rey.

“Oh.” The boy frowned in thought for a moment before flashing another megawatt smile, “Goodbye, Rey! It was nice meeting you.”

“Ήταν ωραίο να σας συναντήσω επίσης. Έχετε μια καλή μέρα στο σχολείο.” Rey responded with a small wave.

Bee’s eyes widened at the new language while Poe chuckled, ushering his son over to the stairway that lead to the sidewalk.

“Cool!” Bee exclaimed, beaming at Rey who couldn’t help but smile back.

“Have a nice day, Rey.” Poe laughed, giving her a final wave goodbye.

“You as well.” She replied, moving to once again gather her things, watching as the two walked away , deciding that Poe in 2B was not a trick, but perhaps a friend.

And Rey, who had kept to herself for over two millennia, found herself not nearly as terrified as she thought she would be at the idea of potentially having one.


	2. Poe in 2B

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe gets to know his new neighbor a little bit better.

Poe Dameron wasn’t quite sure what to make of his new neighbor.

When he had initially found out from his landlord that he would be living next to a research scholar of Classical Antiquity named “Dr. Rey Kenobi”, he had been fully prepared to live next to a middle-aged man with a penchant for tweed blazers. So he was pretty shocked when he’d finished his run one morning to find a petite brunette woman who looked to be still in her twenties practically shoulder deep into his planters. He was even more shocked to discover that _she_ was the Dr. Rey Kenobi he’d been told would be returning from their annual sabbatical sometime that spring. Poe was instantly charmed by her almost eccentric awkwardness during that first encounter, not to mention her smile.

Maker that _smile._

It was soft and sweet with a genuineness that nearly broke his heart because he also got the sense that she wasn’t used to smiling very much. Or at all. In fact, he was quickly getting the impression that something very bad had happened to her—something that had caused her to build some pretty impressive emotional barriers. He’d never seen anyone choose their words so carefully before, which only meant that he appreciated what she _did_ tell him that much more.

Every story was like a gift.

Every smile, a victory.

Poe was careful never to push a topic, but by the end of that first week he could tell she was beginning to open up more because their silent stretches of conversation weren’t nearly as long and didn’t happen as often. Rey’s conversations with his son, however, were an entirely different matter.

After their initial meeting, Bee had practically decided she was his new best friend and would run outside every morning to ensure that he was the one sitting next to her as the three of them ate breakfast on the patio. Poe had tried to explain the concept of boundaries to his five-year-old—especially after he saw how Rey had flinched when Bee had hugged her unexpectedly—but to Rey’s credit, she was incredibly patient with his son. She would answer all of his rapid-fire questions, of which he had _many_ after she explained what it was that she did for a living one morning. Her responses to his son’s questions were no less thoughtful than the ones she gave to him. Even to some of Bee’s more nonsensical questions—like whether or not ancient Greeks could fly—her answers were never condescending in the way that most adults were when they interacted with inquisitive children.

It was yet another thing that had quickly endeared his new neighbor to him.

On the Friday morning a full week after Rey had returned, Bee had zipped past him in the kitchen in his haste to go outside.

“Don’t worry! I have plenty of hands to carry out both your and my breakfasts!” Poe called out to his son in Spanish, only to be rewarded with a peal of laughter in response.

Rolling his eyes with an exasperated chuckle, he worked to consolidate both his and Bee’s breakfast onto one plate, tucking his coffee thermos in the crook of his arm so that he could carry Bee’s glass of milk out to the patio without spilling.

“You can _read_ that?”

Poe sighed as he watched his son crouch on a chair, leaning in towards Rey and practically hovering over her stack of papers. Looks like he would need to have yet another conversation with his son about personal space.

“Yep.” Rey answered, offering her companion a small smile as she wrote a few notes in the margins of the document she was working on.

“Benito, sit. Chairs are for sitting. We do not stand on them.” Poe said, still speaking in Spanish as he took a seat opposite them at the table. He shot an apologetic look over to his neighbor as his son complied.

“What is it?” Bee asked without skipping a beat as though he hadn’t just been scolded, scootching to the edge of the seat to get a better look at the unfamiliar words on her sheet of paper.

“It’s a very old version of Greek.” Rey replied as she set her pen down, clearly coming to the realization that she wouldn’t be getting any more work done with the overly curious five-year-old at her side. She turned to look at him, giving him her full attention, “How many languages do you know?”

“Just English and Spanish.” Bee responded as he reached out to grab a handful of apple slices from Poe’s plate, “I only speak Spanish with Papá y mi abuelo—my grandpa.”

Rey looked down at him with an almost apologetic smile, “I’m afraid I don’t speak very much Spanish at all.”

“I could teach you!” Bee exclaimed with such enthusiasm that Poe couldn’t help but smile, “Then you wouldn’t be afraid!”

Poe chuckled to himself at his son’s literal interpretation of Rey’s words, but his smile faltered when he looked up to see an emotion that he couldn’t quite place crossed Rey’s face. After a moment of hesitation, she nodded, her lips slowly pulling into a small sad smile, “I’d like that very much.”

“And you could teach me this!” Bee continued not registering Rey’s change in demeanor, pointing down at the page that she had been working on.

Rey let out an amused huff, “How about we start with regular Greek and go from there?”

“Okay!” Bee shouted, his mouth full of apple.

The three of them finished their food in a pleasant silence with Bee chiming in here and there some simple phrases and words in Spanish, apparently wanting to start Rey’s lessons as soon as possible. When it was time for the three of them to head their separate ways, Bee gathered the dirty dishware—after some subtle prompting from Poe—to take back into the apartment. Poe leaned over the table to get a closer look at what Rey had been translating when his son had interrupted her only to find the page full of characters that he wouldn’t have even recognized as letters let alone a version of Greek.

“Just out of curiosity, how many languages _do_ you know?” he asked.

“Several,” Rey replied dryly as she started to pack her books and folders into her work bag, “though the majority of them are not very useful in everyday life.”

“What like hieroglyphics?” Poe asked in jest before he saw Rey’s expression, “ _You can read_ _Egyptian hieroglyphs_?”

She shrugged, “As well as hieratic, demotic, and Coptic Egyptian. As far as ancient languages go, there’s also Mycenean Greek, Homeric Greek, Attic Greek and of course Latin.”

Poe waved his hand, “Of course.”

The only indication Rey gave that she’d even heard him was a quick roll of her eyes before continuing, “English—obviously—standard modern Greek, Italian, barely passable French and now eight phrases in Spanish."

“And I thought being bilingual was still considered impressive.” Poe remarked, thoroughly fascinated by how someone could know _that many_ languages, let alone ancient ones.

“It is!” Rey replied earnestly, “And your language skill set is far more practical than mine. I just…” she scrunched her nose in thought, “…have a knack for them.”

He shot her an incredulous look, “I’d say that knowing over ten languages is more than just a ‘knack.’”

“True.” Rey mused, slipping into what Poe recognized as one of her quiet moods. He was ready to leave it at that and head inside to check on his son who was taking a suspiciously long time putting a single cup and plate in the sink when she spoke again, “I guess…growing up I didn’t really have a lot in the way of friends—that I wanted to hang out with anyway—and I just…” she trailed off looking thoughtful if a little sad, “I’m not used to being around people. I don’t really have the opportunity to get too terribly close to anyone with my line of work. It was the same with school—academic recluse and all that.”

“But what about outside of work? Outside of school?” Poe asked, his brain not being able to comprehend that Rey, who was so bright, so funny, and far too patient with his wily five-year-old wouldn’t have a line of people around the block wanting to be her friend.

Rey looked at him with another unplaceable expression and Poe immediately began to back-peddle.

“This is none of my business, I’m sorry.” He said, holding up his hands in what he hoped conveyed apology.

“No, don’t be.” She said, zipping up her workbag before setting it back on the ground next to her, “It’s just…I’ve mentioned before that my family is complicated.”

Rey looked as though she was debating something as she stared off into the distance.

“Years of familial backstabbing and watching relationships implode sort of have a lasting impact on you when it comes to forming relationships with people.” She said with a sigh, “I’ve seen how ugly things can get—experienced it even—so it was just easier to cut people off from the beginning. Throw myself into my studies and then later my work and just…avoid everything. It’s easier that way.”

“Lonelier too, I’d imagine.” He replied softly.

Poe knew that he’d gotten lucky when it came to family even though he’d experienced his fair share of tragedy. His mother had died when he was young, but he’d had ten years of growing up with two parents who loved him. With a father who carried on after she had passed, never letting Poe go a day without being told that he was loved. With an extended family of his parents’ close friends from their time in the military who he had gown up calling tio and tia.

Even with Jess, he’d gotten lucky.

They had been friends who really should have remained friends, but by the time they came to that conclusion, realized that they were going to have a son together. In what could have been a messy fight over custody, they had worked out a plan and had stuck to it—not only remaining close friends but equally close co-parents. When Jess had started dating Iolo Arana, Poe had gotten along with the guy from the moment they’d first met and was genuinely glad when the two married that he was who Jess had chosen to join their unconventional family.

Sure sometimes he disagreed with Jess about certain matters, or his father would voice an opinion that he _definitely_ did not agree with, or his tia, Jyn, would say something that would spark a heated argument at a holiday celebration, but Poe knew he could always count on his family—related or found—to be there when he needed them.

He couldn’t imagine a world in where he did have that.

Where he had _never_ had that.

“You get used to it after a while.” Rey replied with a shrug, “There are far worse things to be than lonely.”

Before Poe could respond to such a heartbreaking admission—especially one given so nonchalantly—Bee came running back out, his jacket half on and his backpack dragging behind him, completely oblivious to the patio’s much more somber mood.

“Can Rey walk with us to school?” Bee asked, glancing hopefully between where Poe and Rey were now standing.

“I think Rey has to get to work, buddy.” Poe replied, much to his son’s disappointment, “Come on, let’s go. Say goodbye to Rey.”

“Adios, Rey!”

“Adios, Benito!” She said with a wave before parroting back the words he’d taught her over breakfast in perfect Spanish, “Have a good day.”

Bee practically beamed as Poe took his hand and said his farewell to Rey.

They walked up the patio stairs to the sidewalk, looking over his shoulder to see her watching them leave with a soft, forlorn look that indicated Rey was no stranger to watching people walk away from her.

Poe vowed then and there that he would show Rey—his smart and thoughtful neighbor who he was very much certain life had been incredibly unfair to—the kindness and friendship that everyone deserved.

But especially her.

He turned to look at Bee—still blissfully unaware of all of the maelstrom inside Poe’s mind—and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze that was more for his own comfort than his son’s as they continued down the sidewalk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Stay safe out there, friends!

**Author's Note:**

> Translations (From Google Translate, so my apologies if they are not 100% accurate!)
> 
> ¡Adios Rey! Fue un placer conocerte. - Goodbye, Rey! It was nice meeting you!
> 
> Ήταν ωραίο να σας συναντήσω επίσης. Έχετε μια καλή μέρα στο σχολείο. - It was nice to meet you too. Have a good day at school.


End file.
